Likud Members Fight Appointment of Sharon Legal Advisor

Likud members are fighting the promotion of Eyal Yinon, a former legal advisor who allowed political appointments during the Disengagement.

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Maayana Miskin, 08/11/09 20:55 | updated: 22:02

Likud activists

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Several members of the Likud Central Committee are waging a campaign to prevent the appointment of former Legal Advisor to the Prime Minister Eyal Yinon as Legal Advisor to the Knesset. Yinon's opponents argue that he allowed then-MK Omri Sharon to make political appointments in order to gather support for the 2005 “Disengagement” from Gaza and northern Samaria (Shomron).

Shevach Stern, chairman of the regional Likud branches in Judea and Samaria, told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service about the Committee members' struggle. He said that Omri Sharon's policy of handing out ministry positions in exchange for support for the Disengagement program led by his father, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was revealed in the months leading up to the Gaza expulsion. “I became aware of the matter while fighting the Disengagement... It was already a known issue back then.”

Sharon succeeded in reducing opposition to the Disengagement by critical votes, Stern said. “Even when we had majority support for a certain decision, we were unable to get a majority vote, because more than a few Likud Central Committee members got jobs and then voted with Omri Sharon.”

"In one case, the decision was made by a single percentage point [of votes],” Stern added. Yinon knew that Sharon was busy appointing Central Committee members and their relatives to government jobs, and approved the initiative despite the clear conflict of interest involved, Stern accused.

Once he and others explain Yinon's past to Knesset head Reuven Rivlin, Yinon is likely to lose support, he believes. “We think that when [Rivlin] reads these things he will open his ears. As someone who speaks about the importance of democracy and rule of law, he will take this issue seriously.”